Bizspace Spotlight

A Nashville, Tenn., electronic payments company is said to be scouting Atlanta — a financial tech hub — for a large office expansion that could bring about 1,000 jobs.

Brentwood, Tenn.-based Comdata Corp. could be considering Midtown, including Atlantic Station. Details about the project are closely guarded. Georgia Tech, a major fintech research center, is said to be involved.

The Georgia Department of Economic Development, Metro Atlanta Chamber and Invest Atlanta — all said to be involved in the project — declined comment. Comdata denied any expansion or relocation plans.

Last year, the Nashville Business Journal reported Comdata was searching for a new headquarters location. The company was considering moving from its 201,000-square-foot office park building to a more than 300,000-square-foot, build-to-suit office building. Comdata, which employs more than 800 in Nashville, has not made that move yet. The lease on the Nashville facility expires in May 2016.

Atlantic Station has more than 400,000 square feet of available office space. With its mix of retail, office and residential amenities, the 138-acre redevelopment is attracting several tech and digital media companies, including Ogilvy & Mather, Pandora, Square and Tapjoy.

A Comdata spokeswoman brushed off speculation, noting the company had no plans to relocate to Atlanta.

“At this time, no decision has been made about our facility options,” the spokeswoman said. “Comdata is working with Cushman & Wakefield to help us evaluate our options so that we have the best facility for our company in the long term.”

Comdata President Steve Stevenson reiterated the point. “We have no plans to move to Atlanta, and we are not moving to Atlanta,” he said.

Comdata is a subsidiary of Minneapolis-based Ceridian Corp., a multibillion-dollar human resource management firm. Ceridian employs about 300 at its 101,000-square-foot facility in Central Perimeter. Ceridian CEO Stuart Harvey used to run Elavon Inc., an Atlanta-based payments manager and subsidiary of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB).

“[Ceridian] is very happy with its facility in Atlanta and they’ve got a great workforce down there,” Stevenson said. “But they actually have no plans to expand that operation.”

Comdata is a leader in the trucker payments business and also serves the retail, hospitality, aviation, construction and health-care industries, and government. In addition to payment processing, Comdata provides value-added services, such as data gathering and analysis. For instance, the company not only ensures truck drivers can pay for fuel while on the road, it also collects mileage and other data that can boost a fleet’s operating efficiency.

Targeted business services is one of the most vibrant parts of the payments industry, said Steve Ledford, managing director with New York-based Novantas Inc., a financial services consulting firm.

“By tailoring services to the unique needs of an industry, you can make it more valuable and therefore it’s more than just the payment services,” Ledford said. “You are not only helping [a] company make their payments, you are helping them streamline their accounting and human resources operations.”

Comdata’s possible interest in metro Atlanta makes sense — given the region’s reputation as a fintech hub. The metro area is also home to FleetCor Technologies Inc. (NYSE: FLT) which competes with Comdata in the fleet business.

Metro Atlanta’s blooming financial technology ecosystem includes more than 90 financial technology companies. Four of the top 20 American Banker FinTech 100 companies are headquartered in Georgia: NCR Corp., First Data Corp., Total System Services Inc. (TSYS) and Equifax Inc.

The Peach State ranks third in fintech company revenue (more than $34 billion annually), behind New York and California. Metro Atlanta’s payment processing industry employs nearly 40,000 workers.

Globally, there were more than 135 billion payment card transactions representing about $2.3 trillion of consumer and commercial purchases in 2011. More than 85 billion of these transactions passed through the global networks of Georgia fintech organizations, Banks said.

“If you’re a payments business, Atlanta is where all the innovation is occurring, it’s where the talent is,” McConnell said. “This is where you would want to be.”

Indeed. A robust industry cluster indicates the region has a deep pool of skilled talent, such as software developers and industry executives. Emory University and Georgia Tech are major centers of financial technology research.

“Whether you’re starting a new business or you’re looking to move in, you’ll be able to tap into that talent pool, you’ll be able to tap into the supporting business,” Ledford, the consultant, said. “If I had a payments business and I was thinking about where I wanted to locate it, Atlanta would definitely be very high on my list.”

Atlanta’s strong telecommunications and technology infrastructure is another draw to an electronic payments company, Ledford said.

Comdata, which started out serving the transportation industry, has since expanded into the health-care sector.

“The health-care industry is trying to increase its operating efficiencies,” said Andrew Krabeepetcharat, analyst at market research firm IBISWorld. “Due to the very complex nature of health-care payments, it should be a definite growth market.”

Payment processing industry growth suffered a marginal decline in the past five years, largely due to the high unemployment rate.

The sector is now returning to growth, as the economy firms up.

“We’re expecting the industry to grow at a 2.9 percent annualized rate over the next five years,” Krabeepetcharat said.